According to new figures from the ONS, Craven – a local government district of North Yorkshire – is the happiest place in the UK. Residents of the area, which includes much of the southern Yorkshire Dales, reported the highest level of life satisfaction and the lowest levels of anxiety – scoring 8.3, compared with a national average of 7.5. The unlucky people of Hertsmere in Hertfordshire, on the other hand, were found to be the unhappiest.

Paul Shevlin, chief executive of Craven district council, attributed the area’s high score to “beautiful countryside, brilliant schools, amazing communities and our warm and friendly people”. But there are other reasons we should all live in Craven.

Place names

Don’t we all want to live in Yockenthwaite? Why wouldn’t you be happy if your home was in Starbotton. The Yorkshire Dales have some of the most distinctive place names in the country – lunch in Blubberhouses, anyone? – and Craven is no exception. And it’s not just the names that make you smile. Author J B Priestley declared Hubberholme one of the “smallest and pleasantest places in the world”.

Shakespeare

For those wishing to see a copy of the Bard’s first folio, it would usually involve a long journey or striking up a friendship with a collector. Not for the residents of Craven. Craven Museum in Skipton (which itself was named the best place to live by the Sunday Times in 2014) claims to be one of only four places in the world to keep one of the first folios on permanent display. The others are Stratford-upon-Avon, the British Library in London and the Folger Library in Washington DC.

Trolls

Troller’s Gill, a limestone gorge near the village of Appletreewick, is named after the creatures that supposedly live there. Local folklore claims that naughty trolls would push stones down the gorge’s sides on to passersby. Because the Yorkshire Dales sit on limestone, they are riddled with more than 2,000 caves and vertical shafts. These include the longest cave system in Britain, Easegill, with 41 miles of passages, and Gaping Gill, which has a main chamber big enough to contain St Paul’s Cathedral.

Trains

Craven is home to the Ribblehead Viaduct, a Grade II* listed structure opened by the Midland Railway in 1875. It carries the famous Settle-Carlisle railway over the dales and along with it more than a million commuters every year. The railway, which passes through the Craven town of Settle, is known for its Victorian architecture. Although most of the trains travelling along the line are diesel, specialist operators do run trips on steam trains.

Beer

In Craven, as with the rest of North Yorkshire, there is no excuse for drinking bad beer. The area is dotted with independent breweries and proper pubs. The Society for Independent Brewers awarded the Settle Brewery with gold medals for its Mainline Bitter and No 3 Porter in its regional awards, and the 16th century Craven Arms pub in Skipton has been called “the perfect country pub”.

• This article was amended on 29 September 2017. An earlier version said the Settle-Carlisle railway ended in Settle. A reader pointed out that it in fact ends in Leeds.